N8!

To my eye, the appearance of the C43 is boring and stale and blends in with other MBs in much the same way all BMWs seem to do.

jonpiro

Curious I am in the midwest too, I asked my dealer for this exact thing and they said no so I bought the Conti Extreme's. They did store the summer tires for me for free till I want to use them.

Tony M

I directly compared a C43 sedan to the S5 SB when my shortlist came down to two.

Many pros and cons on both sides, but the biggest ones helping the decision were:

• Audi had the hatchback
• Audi rode better
• Audi sounded better in "normal" driving at lower revs
• Audi had a spare (albeit spacesaver) and no runflats
• Audi looked more "interesting" - less like the standard sedan
• Audi tech seemed more advanced

To tell the truth, I wasn't really excited about either car, but my BMW 428i is out of warranty and I now realize I ideally need 4 doors. My budget could easily extend to a class above these (eg E class or 5 series or S6) but I don't need the extra space and a smaller car is more nimble and potentially a more pleasant drive. And there was nothing in the larger class that excited my imagination either.

Now, I am in the older age group and firmly of the opinion that driving anywhere close to the limits of any car on public roads is irresponsible. So, handling at the limit is of interest to me only to the extent that it relates to safety - the greater the margin of safety the better IMHO. So, the road-test opinions about the Mercedes being more "fun to drive" in the sort of driving that should be confined to a track is academic to me. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a mildly spirited drive on a lovely, twisty road though - I just keep well within the car's (and my) capabilities so there's no danger to me or anyone else if eg a bend turns out to be sharper than anticipated.

zhu63

You mean rear tires larger than the front? Any reason in particular why this isn't ideal? Other than not being able to rotate tires all around I don't mind them.

Funny, to me all BMWs and Audis look the same I saw an S3 the other day and could've swore it was an S6 but I can tell apart different Mercedes from three blocks away. I do agree all the C class vehicles are getting a bit dated now - which is the reason why I'm exploring options on this side of the world.


Yeah I'm really liking the S5 SB, hatchback, frameless doors, and that virtual cockpit got me excited.

synergize

[QUOTE=zhu63;25112490]You mean rear tires larger than the front? Any reason in particular why this isn't ideal? Other than not being able to rotate tires all around I don't mind them.

No, the front tires are larger then the rears, sounds strange; the reason being is that the larger front tire dials out some of the understeer. The guys on the MB forum hate this setup because it is a hassle buying new tires and you cannot rotate them. Plus, the stock tires are run-flats and they are wearing out at about 8 to 9k miles and bubble in the sidewall if you hit a good sized pothole. If you get rid of the stock run-flats on the C43 for a conventional tire (Michelin PSS) you have no spare tire. So now you need a spare and a jack and some tools with no place to store them. Kinda messed up, huh?

zhu63

[QUOTE=synergize;25112498]This is from the MBUSA page for the C43: 225/45R18 front, 245/40R18 rear, all-season Extended Mobility

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehic...nt=model-specs

This might be the specs for the stock 18 with all season, they run larger fronts if running summers or 19s? I've never heard of that.

synergize

[QUOTE=zhu63;25112501]The 225/45R18 is larger then the 245/40R18 it is a percentage. For the 19's 225/40R19 Front and 255/35R19 Rear, the front is the larger tire. 40% of 225 is greater then 35% of 255, sounds confusing but it is correct in both 18 and 19 inch tires. The C43 is not a square setup and if one chooses to make it a square setup you will introduce more understeer. The 18 inch tire size is a tad larger in the front then the 19 inch tire, silly!

zhu63

[QUOTE=synergize;25112508]Oh I see, I was only thinking about the width. Interesting.

NoMoreBMWs

I too made this comparison, and we're likely in a similar age group. I was trading in a 2014 435i xDrive coupe. However I wouldn't so easily fall into this consensus that the C43 is the faster car. The only relevant data points on Fastest Laps are Sachsenring and Hockenheim Short where the Audi S5 coupe narrowly beats the C43, presumably on the basis of better handling. Similarly the S4 sedan turned in a better time than the C43 on Motor Trend's test track.

Tony M

Hi Jim
No, I wasn't assuming the C43 was faster, but i did notice the number of motoring writers that felt it was more fun to drive. Thanks for that info, which is certainly interesting and a little surprising (in a good way).

BTW, in Australia, the sports diff is a stand-alone option and I was really in two minds about shelling out for it (around 2.5k AUD). But the nagging feeling that I might be missing out on something good prompted me to tick that box even though I'll probably never feel it actually doing it's thing, given the limited scope for enthusiastic driving on our crappy roads.

Re the BMW, it was my first (slightly) premium German car and I've found it to be a sweet little driver and a great ownership experience with no reliability issues whatsoever. However, I don't trust runflats to get me to where I'm going and I'd rather pop on a spare, even if it's a space-saver. At least then I'd feel confident about continuing on my way, albeit at a reduced speed. Somehow, though, the interior fell short of being the premium experience i expected. It looked great with the red seats, doortrims and lower dash, but he dakota leather always felt too much like some sort of utilitarian plastic and some of the switchgear and other interior fittings seemed a bit downmarket to me at the price. I expect the Audi to be a little better at least. Anyway, these are some of the reason I just didn't want to swap to a 4 series Grande Coupe. I also think a reasonably powerful car should really have the security of AWD.

I'll be going from Mineral grey/Coral red to Daytona/Magma so I don't think a lot of the neighbours will even notice I've changed cars!